1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a mixing device and mixing method, and more particularly relates to creating drops of reactants that are mixed.
2. Background of Related Art
Microreactors are used for the manufacture of chemicals and typically provide rapid prototyping and potential for scale up and manufacturing. Microreactors are relatively small in size and have continuous throughput, so they are advantageously used to provide speed of chemical reactions, yield and ability to handle highly exothermic reactions.
Mixers are one of the potential components of microreactor systems. To form a chemical reaction, the ingredients or reactants are typically mixed. An increased mixing rate in microreactors is often desirable because the rate of mixing is often the rate limiting step in reactions. Furthermore, the non-uniformities of mixing can hurt the yield of a reaction. The small dimensions of a typical microreactor are beneficial because the length over which mixing occurs is shorter, with respect to a conventional batch reactor, thus creating a faster mixing rate. Nevertheless, even on a small scale, bringing two streams of liquids or reactants together, often creates laminar flows and a single interface, over which diffusion becomes the rate limiting step.
Accordingly, increasing the mixing rate in microreactors is desired.